Technological Feasibility of a Nursing Clinical Information System

A successful implementation of an information system is impossible without sufficient knowledge of available technical resources of an institute. The aim of this study was to determine technical feasibility of a nursing clinical information system (NCIS) in Mazandaran province, Iran, 2015.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in three steps. In the first step, a data gathering tool was developed through an unsystematic literature review. In the second step, a questionnaire was developed and validity of the tool was confirmed by receiving opinions of faculty members and calculating indices of Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). The questionnaire reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α= 0.72). In the third step, the feasibility of implementation of NCIS was evaluated by forming a panel of IT experts (n= 30), and through a questionnaire. Data were collected by 5-point Likert scale, very low to very high (scoring 1-5). Scores of each item were calculated and score percentage was determined. Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests were used.

Maximum possibility of implementing NCIS were in the hardware area, additional equipment (92.6%), in the area of software, financial software (99.4%), in the area of network equipment, the possibility of integration with other internal systems, (92.6%) and in the area of network security, the possibility of backup version for security purposes (97.4%). Type of employment was statistically significant according to IT experts' opinions (p= 0.014).

Hardware and software infrastructures for implementation of NCIS were desirable. The provision of more portable computers, advanced equipment such as barcode scanner, Radio-frequency identification (RFID), some approaches for increase accessibility of the system and essential databases from other resources and also increase of network lines' speed are necessary.